Help.co.uk launches new online donations service

Howard Lake | 21 April 2008 | News

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Help.co.uk launches today, offering UK charities online fundraising services including handling credit and debit card donations and processing Gift Aid claims.
The organisation aims to generate £10 million for charities in its first year.
The domain name help.co.uk was bought for it recently for £500,000 (approx. US $1m) by Bank of Zurich.
According to help.co.uk, only 10% of UK charities currently have credit card clearance facilities and, with most raising less than £10,000 a year, bank charges often bar them from accessing this form of giving. Consequently help.co.uk is offering an online payment and fundraising service to all UK registered charities, “regardless of their size, with no set-up, registration or monthly fees”.
Roger Cresswell, Help’s finance director, said: “All UK charities should be able to benefit from online giving without having to bear the costs associated with operating a secure website. And our tax savvy services will make sure 100% of gift aid is attached”.
Help.co.uk says that its technology setup will ensure that it will be able to process “hundreds of donations per second”.
Work is also underway to increase the site’s database of charities and good causes from the 191,000 English and Welsh charities to 325,000 over the next 12 months.
Cresswell added: “The web is becoming the primary fundraising channel for charities and, thanks to the Bank of Zurich, we’re able to offer UK charities a name that will be automatically remembered by online donors.”
The company takes a small processing fee from the total donations received to cover administration costs, but does not charge any subscription fees.
www.help.co.uk

About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale. He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.